Psychotic Boulder jail inmate gouges out own eyes, sues county for negligence

A gravely mentally ill inmate at the Boulder jail has sued Sheriff Joe Pelle in federal court claiming jail staff failed to stop the man from using his fingers to gouge out his own eyes after several prior attempts to do so.

Ryan Partridge, 31, sued Pelle and 21 other jail employees in U.S. District Court in Denver claiming he blinded himself because they failed to note warning signs to treat his mental illness, according to the civil lawsuit filed Thursday by Denver civil rights attorneys David Lane and Katheryn Stimson.

Partridge, who is now blind and suffers from deep, severe schizophrenic psychosis, is seeking monetary awards for negligence, including compensatory damages for physical and psychological injuries including pain and emotional distress and humiliation. He suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions and paranoia, the lawsuit says.

On Dec. 17, 2016, Partridge curled up in a ball in his cell and with fingernails that hadn't been cut for six weeks, "wedged his thumb and fingernails behind both of his eyes and plucked them both completely out of his head," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says that jailers failed to respond to a series of precursor events in which Partridge said he would gouge his eyes out. In early 2016, he banged his head into his toilet, breaking seven teeth, the lawsuit says.

Six weeks earlier, while in the grip of a psychotic episode, Partridge had attempted suicide by climbing to the top railing on a second-floor tier inside the jail and dove head first into a metal table. He smashed his head on the table and then the cement floor. He survived with a broken vertebra, the lawsuit says.

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A month later, he tried to jump from the same railing but deputies talked him down, the lawsuit says. The incidents followed similar self-mutilation and suicide attempts that happened months earlier while Partridge was in and out of the Boulder jail and the Colorado Mental Health Institute of Pueblo "presenting with unmistakable signs of severe mental illness."

Shane McGurck, the jail's mental health program director, sought an emergency court order to get Partridge psychiatric treatment. The judge ordered deputies to immediately take Partridge to get psychiatric treatment.

"That order was ignored as Mr. Partridge sat, balled up in his cell, and plucked out his own eyeballs," the lawsuit says. "Defendants' willful and deliberate indifference to Mr. Partridge's serious medical needs directly led to his self-mutilation, head and vertebrae injury, broken teeth and ultimately, to his permanent blindness."

Jail officers also "repeatedly used excessive force against an uncomprehending Mr. Partridge, regularly Tasing and punching him, leaving him bloodied, in pain, and tortured," the lawsuit says.

The jail failed to properly train officers in how to care for a mentally ill inmate.

In 2014 and 2015, Partridge's parents began noticing signs of mental illness including irrational speech and tics. His father took him to the hospital for a 72-hour mental health hold. In 2015 and 2016, his parents repeatedly called police after Partridge had violent outbursts.

According to jail records, deputies noted that Partridge was off his psychiatric medications and showed signs of psychosis and bizarre behavior, the lawsuit said.

“Inmate Partridge is well known to the Boulder County Jail staff and has a history of
mental health issues, which has been deteriorating considerably, with each passing
incarceration,” one deputy wrote.

In early 2016, Partridge told deputies that the CIA was telling him to "dig out his eyes" and he unsuccessfully attempted to do so.

On March 22, 2016, deputies saw Partridge trying to gouge his eyes out. He was also psychotic and chanting, the lawsuit says. He was taken to the Boulder Community Hospital where he again tried to gouge his eyes out during his initial evaluation, the lawsuit says.

Partridge had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in September after saying a judge could hear his thoughts and he wanted to make his mother into a puppet. He became manicthat fall and at one time told a deputy: "You're trying to make it look like I killed my family, aren't you?"

On Nov. 17, 2016, a state hospital doctor testified Partridge was competent to proceed to trial in a criminal mischief case. His attorney asked the judge to sentence Partridge to time served so he could get mental health treatment. Instead, the judge sentenced Partridge to six months in a work release program in which he returned to the jail.

On Dec. 1 of that year, jailers talked Partridge off of an upper tier. He got down but roared like an animal, the lawsuit says. The next day Partridge took a swing at Deputy Dan Newcomb, who then punched the inmate in the face, the lawsuit says. Other deputies also punched him.

When Partridge fell to the ground Deputy Robert Hicks pummeled Partridge in the back four or five times with "hammer-fist" blows, the lawsuit says. Two deputies Tased Partridge, it says.

On Dec. 6, 2016, McGurk recommended that the state hospital bump Partridge to the top of its list for his safety.

On Dec. 16 that year, McGurk returned to court and told a judge that Partridge was "an imminent danger to himself or others." The judge signed an order the same day, but deputies didn't follow it. The next day at 4 p.m., Partridge's parents begged for help for their son and asked the jail to force him to take medication.

At 7:45 p.m., Deputy T. Smith and nurse Dale Greene noticed Partridge had blood on his face but Greene determined the inmate didn't need immediate attention and took no action, the lawsuit says.

At 9 p.m., Deputy Christian Berringer passed Partridge's cell and noticed Partridge had dried blood on his face coming from the corner of his eye. His eyes were swollen shut and he had blood on his hands, the lawsuit says.

Later deputies entered the cell and again Tased Partridge and Smith slammed him to the floor, the lawsuit says.

After deputies had Partridge partially open one eye lid, they rushed him to the hospital.

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